What policies are the Turkish government implementing for more foreign business?

Overview of Turkey’s Foreign Investment Policy

Türkiye prioritises foreign investment on its agenda and follows an extensive strategy to attract sustainable investment. Despite a global slowdown in foreign direct investment, Türkiye’s region continues to attract growing inflows, particularly in high value-added service sectors. Global FDI patterns are increasingly shaped by green transformation, sustainability priorities, digitization, and the restructuring of value chains through nearshoring and friend-shoring, alongside rising protectionism driven by trade and technology tensions. The growing prominence of mega projects further strengthens the region’s position as a key investment destination. Mega projects like Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), the Istanbul Finance Center, the Filyos Valley industrial and port complex, the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, and the North Marmara Highway attract significant foreign capital and enhance the country’s profile as a regional investment destination. At the same time, investments in technology startups are becoming an increasingly important component of global FDI flows.

Türkiye’s International Direct Investment Strategy for 2024–2028 aims to increase the country’s share of global FDI to 1.5% and regional FDI to 12%, while achieving ambitious project targets across priority investment categories. The strategy focuses on attracting knowledge-intensive, value-added, digital, climate-friendly, and global value chain–oriented investments that generate qualified employment.

To achieve these objectives, a comprehensive policy framework built around eight core areas will be implemented through coordinated action plans in collaboration with key stakeholders.

Key Laws Governing Foreign Businesses in Turkey

FDI Law No. 4875 encourages FDI, protects investor rights, and replaces prior approval with a notification system; it sets out principles including freedom to invest, national treatment, protection against expropriation, freedom of transfer, and dispute resolution mechanisms. The law also ensures equal treatment with domestic investors, removes bureaucratic barriers, and protects investments from expropriation without fair compensation. Moreover it ensures that foreign investors are permitted to transfer net profits, dividends, sale and liquidation proceeds abroad without restrictions, which enhances investor confidence and capital mobility.

Equal Treatment and Market Access for Foreign Investors:
Turkish law ensures equal treatment and market access for foreign investors primarily through the Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875, which establishes the principle of national treatment, granting foreign investors the same rights, obligations, and protections as domestic investors. The law removes prior screening and authorization requirements, allowing foreign investors to freely establish companies, acquire shares, and engage in economic activities under the same conditions applicable to Turkish nationals.

It guarantees full ownership rights, protection against expropriation except for public interest and with prompt and adequate compensation, and the free transfer of profits, dividends, and capital abroad. By aligning investment entry conditions with international standards and embedding non-discrimination into its core legal framework, Türkiye provides a predictable and transparent investment environment that facilitates unrestricted market access for foreign investors.

Government policies and actions to promote foreign businesses:

Strategies and roadmaps related to foreign investment are prepared by the Presidency Investment Office, which is responsible for enhancing foreign investment and prioritise high technology, value added and skilled workforce development creating foreign investments to be present in the country. Foreign Investment Office offers consultancy, coordination with the domestic peers/potential partners, investment process support (company establishment, permits, incentive applications, licencing etc.), location setting/seeking for establishments (field visits, reaching infrastructure), investment summits, and match-making service.

The Turkish government actively promotes foreign business activity through a comprehensive set of investment incentive programs designed to reduce costs, encourage strategic and high value-added investments, and enhance competitiveness. Under the national Investment Incentive Program, foreign and domestic investors alike can access tax exemptions (such as VAT and customs duty waivers), corporate tax reductions, social security premium support, interest rate support, and land allocation for eligible projects, making investment projects more financially attractive and economically viable.

These incentives are structured across general, regional, large-scale, and strategic schemes, with particularly robust support for investments in less developed regions, high technology, and export-oriented sectors. The programs also aim to stimulate employment creation, regional development, clustering, and technology transfer while facilitating smoother authorization and licensing procedures for foreign investors. This broad policy framework reinforces Türkiye’s positioning as an attractive destination for foreign direct investment and supports business expansion across multiple sectors.

List of main incentives for foreign investment: